Strandbeest

On Saturday, we took our last chance to get up to Salem and visit the Peabody Essex Museum to see the Strandbeest exhibit.  This has been on David's list all fall and we knew our engineering-minded children would love it.  So despite the fact that Mr. 4 looked a bit under the weather, we bundled everyone into the car after lunch and drove up.  Mr. 4 immediately fell asleep so the rest of us enjoyed a good audiobook without the constant background demands for music.

The exhibit was amazing and we even had a chance to see the largest beest demonstrated.  I hope that I will one day see these creatures wandering on the beaches in Europe - or perhaps a 3-D printed version wandering around my house.

We made it home just in time for Mr. 4 to spike a fever and start coughing!

And onto the new year

Keeping everyone up until midnight on new year's eve did not mean everyone slept in!  We were all up by 7 but managed to keep in good spirits.  We met up with friends for ice skating but were fading by the time we made it home.  We decided to end the day with a picnic supper and The Princess Bridge (now known as the Princess Buttercup movie by Mr. 4).  And then an early bedtime for everyone - but especially the grown-ups.

New Year's Eve tradition

Every year around the start of the new year we make our annual pilgrimage to the land of stuff - aka Ikea - to help with new year's organization.  I love Ikea - I love how happy everyone is, I love the dream of a better organized house where everything has it's place, I love the restaurant halfway when everyone needs a snack.  This year we made the trek on New Year's Eve and it was our best trip by far.  The kids managed to be super helpful, we didn't lose anyone (we have had to call security more than once), what we bought actually fit in our car.  We headed home and I spent the afternoon happily building and organizing and David spent the afternoon hanging things (a new show organizer, a lamp, a magnetic knife strip, cups for markers - we are organized here).

And after a wonderful afternoon, we decided to try out a new tradition - fireworks on the Common, ice sculptures, and a concert downtown then having friends back to our place to ring in the new year.  It's great to have big kids - everyone except one made it to midnight (Mr. 4 fell asleep around 11:30 sitting up on the couch watching Shawn the Sheep).  Here's to a great 2016!